


A Lesson In The Dance Studio

by KseniyaChe



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Dancer Lance (Voltron), F/M, First Meetings, Fluff, Pre-Het, dance studio AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:00:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28447308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KseniyaChe/pseuds/KseniyaChe
Summary: Allura had been inviting Katie to her ballet studio for a long time, but Katie still resisted. And when she finally decided to come, she found in the ballet class not her friend at all, but the young teacher Lance.
Relationships: Background Lotor/Allura, Lance/Pidge | Katie Holt
Comments: 11
Kudos: 20





	A Lesson In The Dance Studio

Katie checked the address on her smartphone with the address on the nameplate: yes, it's here. She pulled on the handle of the massive door, which gave in quite easily to her, and found herself in the cool entrance.

“Hello. Can I help you?” the guard turned to her.

“Um… Hi. Yes, I'm looking for the ballet studio Altea.

“You need to go up to the third floor, the first door on the left.”

“Thank you,” Katie smiled as she straightened the strap of her gym bag and went up the wide stone staircase with natural wood railings.

On the right door was an inscription in ornate type — Ballet Studio Altea. _“Great,”_ Katie said to herself, glad that she had come on time and hadn’t even gotten lost anywhere.

The receptionist took her to the dressing room and showed her where to go next.

“Your teacher will be waiting for you.”

“Thank you.”

Katie changed into black leggings and a leotard, put on an airy semi-transparent wrap skirt, and changed her sneakers to brand new ballet flats, bought specifically for classes. Once upon a time, she studied in a dance studio. But that was before she went to university and then — work. Eight years passed without dancing. Of course, Katie tried to keep fit in the gym, or at least by jogging in the morning. Until one day her friend Allura almost forcibly invited Katie for a trial individual lesson in her ballet studio. She was a professional ballerina, and in the evenings taught a group for adults in the Studio Altea. Katie kicked out at first and dismissed the offer, awkwardly laughing at her inflexible body.

“Lura, I didn’t snatch stars from the sky when I was younger. And now I've completely forgotten everything!”

“I won't accept any more refusals! You have not seen what young ladies come to me. Both stiff and cakes overeating, but if they fall in love with dancing, then flexibility appears, and weight normalises. Mind you, if you don’t come, I’ll set Lotor on you. And you know him, you will not get away.”

“Oh no, not Lottie,” groaned Katie, who was a little afraid of her friend’s fiancé. _“Canny,”_ she called him to herself and did not change her opinion.

“Even I don’t call him Lottie,” Allura laughed. “So, will you come? I’m free on Wednesday. I'm waiting for you at six p.m. And no more objections!”

Katie gave up. One trial lesson will not kill her, and it will be nice to remember the past. Allura created the Altea Studio with her now almost husband, Lotor. They met in a small provincial theater and immediately found a common language with the immortal ballet “The Nutcracker”. He danced the Prince, of course. And she, then a young dancer barely graduated from the ballet school, danced just the “Chocolate” dance in a divertissement. But, apparently, the castanets in her thin long arms made an impression on Lotor, and they never parted again.

So Katie Holt, twenty-five years old, found herself in the Altea's locker room in her usual training form for ballerinas, ready to appear in front of her flexible as a willow friend. But she was in for a big surprise.

As soon as Katie opened the door to the room, which the administrator showed her, she froze, unable to utter a word. At the barre was not Allura, but a dark-skinned young man unknown to Katie. Leaning slightly with his right hand on the barre, he lifted his left leg, stretching it into a perfect straight line. It was exactly one hundred and eighty degrees between the toes of his feet. Katie could measure this angle with a protractor, and it wouldn't show more accurately than her trained eye. The man did not notice her, because, listening to the music, he closed his eyes. In front of Katie's eyes, he stretched out along his leg his arm with an elegant wrist and long fingers. It was simply indecent to look at him further, so Katie picked up her jaw from the floor and cleared her throat, attracting his attention.

“Um, I beg your pardon…” 

“Yes?” the man opened his eyes and looked directly at her, without changing his position.

“I probably made the wrong door… I have a lesson with Allura.”

“Oh, you must be Katie?” he finally lowered his leg and walked towards her with a smooth gait. “Katie Holt?”

“Y-yes, it's me,” she answered, somewhat embarrassed that he knows, if not herself, then at least about her.

“Allura won't be here today. She asked to inform that she had to leave urgently. So I'll be with you today. My name is Lance. McClain. Better just Lance.” He smiled openly at her, extending his hand.

Katie shook it, uncomfortable. His hand was warm and firm, even a quick glance was enough to notice her grooming. She felt ashamed of her nails, which had already forgotten what a manicure was, lately she was not up to it, too much work.

“Nice to meet you,” Katie squeezed his hand, cursing Allura. “It's strange that it happened… Lura didn't warn me…” 

“Yes, she really is very sorry. Urgent business. And the phone was dead. And she was in such a hurry that she probably forgot about everything.”

Katie stood hesitant, biting her lip. She came here hoping that she would be with a person whom she had known well for several years, and not a stranger with a charming smile and unnatural flexibility. But leaving is somehow impolite.

“Don't worry, I'm a profi.” Lance smiled again.

_“Oh yeah, I don’t even doubt it,”_ Katie said to herself and swallowed nervously.

Seeing that she was still undecided what to do, Lance decisively closed the door behind her back and pointed to the center of the room.

“Let's start with a warm-up, and then you will get involved and won't even notice how time flies by.”

Katie hesitantly walked into the center, looking at herself in a huge mirror that occupied the entire wall. She stood up straight, her hands clasped in front of her in the lock. Lance walked over to the turntable, grabbed the remote and stood next to her.

“So… who should we choose for the background? Let's go for the classics. Mozart. Do you love Mozart?”

Katie mumbled vaguely as she listened to the soft play of the piano.

“Allura said that you had studied before?” he asked.

“A long time ago. You'd better consider that I'm a beginner, because I forgot everything.”

"We'll check it now," Lance smiled again.

_"Why does he do this all the time?"_ thought Katie, remembering the positions for the legs and arms under his patient remarks and corrections.

Lance walked around Katie as she performed one step after another. She gradually drawing in and was glad that her body still remembers something. Slowly she relaxed, and although the presence of a handsome man in tights instead of an old friend was definitely embarrassing for her, Katie herself did not notice how they moved to the barre.

“Keep your back straight. Good.” Lance kept correcting her hand that was sagging. “And once, to the side, back, to the side, forward… What is interesting on the floor?”

Katie raised her head and met Lance's gaze in the mirror. Again he smiled, which somehow bothered her. Maybe because she is used to the fact that the dance tutor is a strict woman (as it was in her ballet school), who counts _battement tendu_ like a colonel on a parade ground. Or maybe because this McClain smiled at her as if he had known her for a hundred years, although she was absolutely sure that she had not seen him before and had not even heard about him. Was Allura telling him something about her? Suspicion crept into Katie's head.

"And _grand battement_. And once…" Lance always showed the first movement, standing in front of Ketie at the barre. And she could not help looking at the gracefulness with which he moved. It was distracting. Therefore, she frowned and, lost in thought, lowered her head down.

“Katie,” Lance touched her chin, lifting her head up, “look ahead."

From the surprise of the touch, she shuddered, lost count. But that didn't bother Lance at all. He skipped the extra beats and nodded to her when it was time to join.

“Very good,” Lance said, stopping the music. "Small break?"

Katie nodded and walked over to the water cooler. She did not expect that the simplest steps, which are taught to girls who are just starting to practice choreography, would drive seven sweats from her. Lance followed her and also filled his own plastic glass with water. Katie tried not to stare at him, but she couldn't. In addition, Lance did not shy at all next to her, he looked directly at her, and when he caught her gaze, his lips broke into a smile. This was starting to freak her out. And when she was annoyed, her thorns appeared almost immediately.

"Excuse me, but why are you always looking at me like that? What did Allura tell you?"

"Nothing criminal. I quote: “My friend, young, attractive and single. Please, help me, I just can't stay today to work with her!”

"And do you always look at Allura's students like that?"

"Like what?" he was sincerely surprised by her question.

Katie hesitated. Maybe he really has this manner of communication. There are people for whom there are no personal boundaries. And judging by the number of times he touched her in just the first hour of training, he was just one of those. Katie blushed deeply.

"Sorry, I…" she laughed softly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I think, I'm just not used to it."

"Dancing or society?"

"Both, I guess."

“You're doing well for a beginner. Want to complicate things a little?"

"How?" she interested.

"Shall we learn several pieces in a row? This is much more interesting than plie."

"Why not?" Katie shrugged. It won't get any worse.

For the next half hour, Katie was diligently studying a piece of "Dance of the Reed Flutes" from "The Nutcracker".

She left the doors of the Altea Studio after two hours since she entered it, quite pleased with herself. Time really flew by. She was already starting to descend the stairs, when suddenly she heard hurrying steps behind and, turning, saw Lance. He had changed and now looked more down to earth than when he showed her the _fouetté_.

"Katie," he pulled up next to her, and they continued their way together, "how are you doing? All right? The muscles out of habit will ache for the first couple of days. But you were doing well."

"Thank you. It's okay, I'm no stranger to muscle pain.” She hesitated for a moment, then added, “I liked the lesson."

Lance beamed and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

"I am very happy to hear it! VIP clients from Allura are a headache, but it was a pleasure to work with you."

For the first time Katie had thought that he could feel embarrassed too because of her close acquaintance with Allura.

"Will you come on Saturday?" Lance asked. And when Katie raised her eyebrows in surprise, he added, "Lura made a schedule for you. Wednesday and Saturday. Didn't you know?"

“No,” Katie shook her head. "We agreed only for a trial lesson. And only if I like it-" she bit her tounge.

Lance was patiently waiting for the continuation, and Katie was completely confused, not knowing what to say.

"So you liked it?" He flashed a smile again, almost blinding his new student.

"Y-yes."

"So, I'll wait for you on Saturday."

They just came downstairs and went out into the street.

“See you,” Lance held out his hand to Katie, and when she shook it, he went one way, and she turned the other.

_"Oh, Allura,"_ Katie thought on the way to the subway. _“I’ll ask you for that.”_

Still, she couldn't help smiling as she remembered bits of her dance lesson today. Katie turned around to make sure no one was seeing her and tiptoed a couple of steps out of the dance she was learning. She turned around and ran into the subway, thinking that it was too long to wait until Saturday.

**Author's Note:**

> I so love ballet! The Nutcracker is the most wonderful of it. And it's also really a Christmas story. So this is my present to you — Happy New Year!
> 
> P.S. Sorry for any mistakes. Sometimes I think I don't know English at all.


End file.
